Kentucky lawmakers pass bill limiting food benefits for thousands of children
The Kentucky General Assembly approved a handful of bills this week that affect the welfare of children, including a provision that would make it harder for some parents to receive food assistance for their children and two others that strengthen child abuse laws.
Lawmakers scrambled to pass as many laws as they could by 11:59 Tuesday night, when the Republican-led legislature lost its ability to pass veto-proof bills. One of those laws was a controversial Republican-backed Senate bill that Democrats argued would strip food assistance from thousands of Kentucky children.
Kentucky boasts one of the highest child hunger rates in the country, with at least one in four kids considered food insecure — a struggle the COVID-19 pandemic has only compounded. Likewise, the commonwealth continues to lead the nation with its high rate of child abuse and neglect cases per population, according to the 2019 Child Maltreatment report from the U.S. Department for Health and Human Services.
Garnering heavy opposition from Democrats, the House on Tuesday gave final passage to a bill that opponents say would disqualify non-custodial parents from the federally-funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) if they fall behind in paying child support payments.
Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, now must decide whether to sign the bill into law, let it become law without his signature or veto it. The General Assembly will have the chance to overturn any veto of the bill when it returns to Frankfort for its final two days of the 2021 legislative session on March 29 and 30.
If it becomes law, Kentucky would be the only state to institute such a ban based on a non-custodial parent’s inability to pay child support, according to the progressive Kentucky Center for Economic Policy
Senate Bill 65 is an administrative regulation bill that would reverse the Cabinet for Health and Family Services’ expansion of SNAP benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic. It would also prevent the cabinet from enacting any similar administrative regulations through June of next year. A similar ban was in place from 2018 to 2020, but the cabinet, without legislative approval, overturned it early last year to ensure Kentucky families would have access to food assistance, even if their children weren’t attending in-person school.
Rep. David Meade, R-Stanford, said the bill will create incentive for more non-custodial parents to pay child support, calling it an “appropriate move.” Meade acknowledged that some children living part-time with their non-custodial parent will be affected by the removal of SNAP benefits, “but they could always go to court to make sure that the judge issues for them to get that SNAP benefit if they so need it,” he said.
The previous ban removed benefits from more than 14,000 households, according to cabinet data aggregated by the Center for Economic Policy. Democrats on the House floor argued the current bill would strip SNAP benefits from an estimated 6,000 kids. Disqualifying people from SNAP benefits would only ratchet up administrative costs for the state, they argued.
“This is a bill that looks on its face like it does nothing, and it robs children of food,” Rep. Pamela Stevenson, D-Louisville, said on the House floor Tuesday. “In the middle of a pandemic, where people are already suffering, this body is choosing to harm families further. I refuse to be a part of a body that says, ‘We don’t care if you’re hungry.’”
Bills strengthen child abuse laws
Reports of child abuse have fallen off during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s likely not because abusive behavior is curbing. Experts attribute the lower reports to fewer children coming to in-person school, where they have greater ability to disclose abuse to an adult outside their home.
A bipartisan bill to better support disclosures of sexual abuse by extending the statute of limitations on those crimes won final approval from the legislature Tuesday afternoon. If signed by the governor, House Bill 472 will double the current statute of limitations for misdemeanor sex abuse offenses from five to 10 years, beginning once a child victim turns 18.
Most children who are abused do not disclose. Those who do tend to do so only after the abuse has stopped, sometimes years later. This bill aims to better accommodate for those delayed disclosures. It would also be retroactive, which means anyone who experienced sexual abuse can still report, as long as they’re within the 10-year time frame.
Kentucky Youth Advocates’ Executive Director Terry Brooks and Kosair Charities’ President Keith Inman support the bill. Inman called it an “important piece of legislation that will help the voices of survivors of child sexual abuse be heard and their perpetrator held accountable, while understanding that there are complex reasons for delayed disclosure in childhood.”
Another bill that raises the criminal penalty for sexual exploitation of a child was awaiting the governor’s signature on Monday.
HB 254, a bipartisan bill from Rep. Derek Lewis, R-London, codifies harsher punishment for people who watch, possess or distribute child sexual abuse material showing a minor under the age of 18. The first offense is a Class C felony (raised from a Class D) which carries a minimum of five years in prison. Each subsequent offense is a Class B felony, carrying a minimum sentence of 10 years.
The bill also amends existing statute to better clarify the criminal liability for those who watch and traffic this material. A viewer can be charged with a Class D felony if they understand a child or teenager portrayed is under the age of 18. This crime is punishable with a Class C felony if the viewer knows the child is under the age of 12.
Lewis said the bill helps give police “greater tools . . . to keep these severely troubled people off the streets.”
